The $3.50 case cleanup.

M

MikeP

Gawd
Joined
Aug 15, 2004
Messages
676
Yeah my case was a mess. Ive been Ocing for many years and have never given a second thought to how it all looks until I started seeing the cool work being done in the threads here so I decided to clean my gaming rig case up. I set a huge budget of $3.50 and 4 hours to get it done and managed to have change to spare.

Rig is:

Raidmax scorpio case
Abit NF7-S 2.0 mobo
AMD 2500+ @ 200x11
Zalman CNPS7000-c Heatsink, modified to fit.
512 OCZ DDR400 matched pair 2x256
Saphire Radeon 9800 Pro


Heres the before shots:
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After I took the side panel off I got so scared I couldnt hold the camera steady.
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Heres everything I used to get it done. Red 3M electrical tape $0.85 per roll (only used less than 1 roll so far). Some red zip ties ( part of a large package of diff coloured ties) aprox $0.50. From Home depot. Prices in Canadian Dollars.
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Next u always want someone to help out in case things go to hell. My wingmans number 16 Trevor Linden, Vancouver Canucks all-time points leader.
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I spent quite a while carefully slicing the ribbons so they could be wrapped nice and tight. Monday Night football is perfect for this slow and boring process.
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Heres the power supply after wrapping..looks kinda like arteries poking outta the PS.
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Heres the results so far. This is fully functional at this point and how Im using it to do this post. Still need to wrap up the 2 rear case fan leads and move em up behind the PS. Dont know what im gonna do about the Zalman fan controller black box hanging there. Ill post a final pic tomorrow when its finished and all back together.

Sure is a much nicer look for a couple bucks and a few hours of time.

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Think I might actually start doing some real modding next..These forums are giving me lots of ideas. ideas.
 
My sleeve kit and new molex connectors should be at the house by Thursday. Can't wait to start on mine!

Rig looks good man.
 
I'd route the ATX and 12V cables through the upper left corner of the case instead, would make them less prominent.
 
I wanted to mount them to the left of the CPU. would have been much cleaner but there is no room between the PS and the frame and the Zalman heatsink, which had to have some of its fins bent a bit to fit in, doesnt leave any room there either.

Adding a couple of intake fans and a VPU cooler(havent decided which one) before next weekend and possibly cutting a hole for a top exhaust fan as well...theres goes my budget.
 
or try routing the cable between the mobo and the psu, you know the small gap between them
 
Nice job...although Trevor Linden for a wingman...he's a better golfer than a hockey player LOL :p

Just buggin ya

MD...Former resident of Vancouver Island...
 
Yeah, Ill have to remove the wrapping on the wiring to fit it in to the small gap between the PSU and frame. Or maybe I can do a little grinding on the frame to mount it.If I have to take the mobo out to modify the frame I might as well paint the whole inside while Im at it......geez this is getting complicated.

So..do I unwrap the wiring, grind the frame or open the PSU and put a dent in it for clearance? Not sure which is best, or easiest, or smartest...

MD...Ragging on Linden...u must be drunk..or insane..or insanely drunk. lol
 
Ok, Its finished. Moved the ATX and 12V cables around to the Lh side of the heatsink to hide em some as people had suggested and finished up wrapping and moving the fan wiring.
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Here with the panels on and ready to roll:
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Compare it to the before shot and its a miracle lol.

Quite a difference and its gotta be getting much better airflow now. Final cost:
1 roll red tape $0.85
12 zip ties aprox $0.35
A whopping $1.20 plus tax. Way under budget.
 
that makes a big difference...maybe i should actually go to the trouble of cleaning mine up....mine looks like urs used to lol
 
looks a lot better only because you dont have IDE cables in the picture...

and i dont like using electrical tape like that, gets all the wires all sticky and dust will collect on it and look icky..

show us a pic with all the cables
 
Stang Man said:
looks a lot better only because you dont have IDE cables in the picture...

and i dont like using electrical tape like that, gets all the wires all sticky and dust will collect on it and look icky..

show us a pic with all the cables
Click to expand...

I think I saw IDE cables in there.. look closely
 
Yeah, they are there. You have to look very closely to see them. They hid very well. The upper one is directly behind the vid card power wiring.

I dont see why the tape will attract dust or be sticky. There is no underside to the tape exposed and its not going to move around. I have a large section of wiring under the hood of my car wrapped this way for years now and it gets a hella lot more dirt and dust in there than my case ever will. They are perfectly clean still.
 
sorry about that... , nice hiding your wires!


guess it's just a matter of personal opinion about the electrical tape.
 
By the way Mike, are u experiencing any data corruption due to the slicing of the cables as you did. Lots of people in here are against such modding!!! just wondering. Great job thought :eek:
 
Its a great idea to use tape instead of those sleeveing kits that cost about 20 bucks. I Think I will do it on my case. Once
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SpLIZaaT. I used that article to go by. Except I cut between every 3 rd wire instead of tenth. Worked very well just tedious as hell.

As for that post about possible data corruption I havent noticed ...BZZKKT!&@###..... .RRKTF&*+.. CHUGA CHUGA.... any problems at all.
 
that is very nice.


chronic9 uh not so good. could still use a lot of work
 
MikeP said:
SpLIZaaT. I used that article to go by. Except I cut between every 3 rd wire instead of tenth. Worked very well just tedious as hell.

As for that post about possible data corruption I havent noticed ...BZZKKT!&@###..... .RRKTF&*+.. CHUGA CHUGA.... any problems at all.
Click to expand...

I'm happy for you in that case. I sliced an IDE cable once every wire. It worked great and looked great for about a month before crapping out. No wire was even popping out though, was wierd.

A little suggestion, take a heat-gun or a blow-dryer and hold it to your cables for a bit, just making steady motions back and forth. At least for the rubber electrical tape I used, which was 3M, it shrunk the wire like heatshrink, making it stick better and making it more flexible. I find taped up wires like that better looking than sleeving.
 
ya just be careful about the heat. you could melt things
 
Thats friggin nice...If you do go on and mod it, I would recommend to paint the inside of the
case red, it will definately hide the cables more.
 
Pitbull, Ill do that . Thanks for the info.

Kuyaglen-I am seriously thinking about painting the inside of it but right now Im kinda looking into watercooling so wont do anything till i take it apart for that or Ill just end up cutting apart what Ive just painted. The watercoolings gonna be all red dyed and red fittings as well, so will be pretty cool inside the case.

Red might not have been my first choice but with a red mobo, red vid card, copper (kinda red) heatsink and copper ram heatspreaders the choice was made for me.

So who wants to buy a slightly used 7000cu premodified to fit a NF7-S 2.0 board?
 
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